A Bit Eager, Aren't We?

The two gods began to smile but were interrupted by an emerging darkness. An inky black smoke that began to cover their feet.

Only the little boy stood in wonder.

The gods kneeled.

The figure began to form from the dark: difficult to perceive though easy to envision.

A winged female emerging from the growing shade, impossibly tall. Though she didn't seem to condense into that form.

The dark mists oozed off her skin, dripping onto the smoke causing ripples towards the two gods.

Her voice didn't soothe and it didn't thunder. It only demanded respect.

"And what may the Maddened Labored Man and the Sun's Forgotten Love have planned here?"

The two lesser gods stood in unison, him clutching his chest and her clutching the child, "I greet the Night."

There was silence as the Night did not respond.

But the boy did. And he did so proudly.

"Hello knight!" he gleamed as he bounced his way out of the hands of the Sun's Forgotten Love and towards the Goddess of the Night.

"If you're a knight, then where's your sword? And your horse? And where's your armor?"

The boy walked closer to the Goddess and tried to touch her leg to feel for armor. His eyes widened in surprise when his hand slipped through her form. His eyebrows furrowed and he began to try to attack the smoke.

"So you're the one who ate me!" His hands slipped through her leg once more and he clapped his hands together causing the smoke to disperse. Though it reemerged immediately.

Tears formed in the child's eyes as he realized he couldn't hurt the lady as much as she hurt him.

"I'm gonna say it," he said as he stared directly into the eyes of the shadowy figure.

He pointed, "You're a big meanie!"

The boy turned around as ebony eyes stared at him and ran back towards the two smaller gods, "Help me. She's gonna melt me again!"

As if triggered, the Goddess of the Night suddenly appeared between the two gods and the child. And she smiled.

A smile that a child could not understand but an adult could.

Her eyes now stared deep into the divine souls of the two lesser gods in front of her, "I'm going to do what exactly to the child again?"

It was at this point that the Sun's Forgotten Love fainted.

And for the first time in a long while, the Maddened Labored Man flinched.

Neither spoke and so the Goddess directed her attention to the boy.

"Child, how did you arrive here?" she said with a much calmer voice than before.

The boy looked at the fainted goddess and then back towards the knight.

"Well, I was playing with two lights. And then I fell and I melted."

The Goddess looked up from the boy and looked toward the Maddened Labored Man.

He spoke, "Nyx, I can explain..."

A tendril of night sky ripped itself out from behind Nyx and thrashed the god across his face. It left an obsidian-colored mark.

"She and I are in a hurry. The world we are in charge of is full of..."

Another thrash ricocheted across the god's chest. The fainted goddess had waken up at this point due to the sound.

All the little boy knew what that it was his time to be quiet. Extremely quiet.

"We had little choice in the matter. Atlas has fallen and..."

Two thrashes hit both of the god's knees, rendering him back onto the ground. Beads of sweat formed on the god's brow.

The god glimpsed at Nyx and then looked at the boy. He sighed.

"It wasn't her that hurt you child. It was us."

The boy looked confused.

"It was the fastest and easiest way to get you here."

The god looked back at Nyx, "I apologize."

"I am not the one in need of an apology." Nyx replied as her mists surrounded the boy.

The god looked back down, "I am sorry child. I meant you no pain."

The boy looked up at the man but quickly turned towards the knight.

"You really are a knight. How did you know they did it? Do you always help people? How tall are you? Are you made of shadows? Where are you..."

Darkness enveloped the child, though he didn't seem to notice. The boy kept pacing and asking questions. Questions no one could hear.

The obsidian scars dissolved from the male god's body, floating back towards Nyx.

"Greet me properly."

The male god kneeled, "Demi-god Heracles greets the Goddess of the Night."

The female goddess kneeled, "Goddess-nymph Rhode greets the Goddess of the Night."

"I greet Heracles and Rhode. And now I demand answers."